{"id":6206,"date":"2025-07-23T14:23:27","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T13:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tsinghua.org.uk\/?p=6206"},"modified":"2025-08-18T12:45:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T11:45:47","slug":"uk-tsinghua-association-x-shen-weis-angkor-wat-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tsinghua.org.uk\/index.php\/2025\/07\/23\/6206\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Tsinghua Association \u00d7 Shen Wei\u2019s Angkor Wat Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dance performance \u201cAngkor Wat Project\u201d, by Shen Wei<\/span><\/p>\n

Paris, May 14, 2025.\u00a0In a spellbinding debut at the\u00a0Mus\u00e9e Guimet<\/strong>\u2014France\u2019s national museum for Asian arts\u2014internationally acclaimed choreographer and visual artist\u00a0Shen Wei<\/strong>\u00a0unveiled his newest interdisciplinary creation:\u00a0The Angkor Wat Project<\/strong>. More than a performance, it was a transcendental journey through time, cultures, and the inner self.<\/p>\n

Among the audience was\u00a0Dr<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Gao Yuan<\/strong>, Secretary-General of the UK Tsinghua Association, who not only attended the world premiere but also engaged afterward in a profound dialogue with\u00a0Mr. Evrard Didier<\/strong>, former Director of the \u00c9cole nationale sup\u00e9rieure des beaux-arts de Paris and current President of France\u2019s National Graphic Design Center, Le Signe. Together, they reflected on the spiritual architecture and cultural resonance of Shen Wei\u2019s latest creation.<\/p>\n

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Shen Wei \u00d7 UK Tsinghua Association:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Connection Born in London<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Painting \u201cReflecting Element\u201d, by Shen Wei, featured in the First Tsinghua Alumni London Art Exhibition<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The collaboration between Shen Wei and the UK Tsinghua Association traces back to 2024, when Shen participated in the\u00a0<\/span>First Tsinghua Alumni London Art Exhibition.\u00a0There, he not only showcased his painting\u00a0<\/span>Reflecting Element\u00a0<\/span>but also served as a guest mentor.<\/span><\/span><\/strong>
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Through his multi-disciplinary practice encompassing dance, painting, and poetry, he inspired a new generation of Tsinghua alumni to reflect on art as a form of spiritual cultivation and the body as a language. This serendipitous meeting in London planted the seeds for a deeper intellectual and artistic exchange, which would come to fruition a year later on the Parisian stage.<\/span><\/span><\/section>\n

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Angkor Wat Project:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

A Cross-Civilizational, Multimedia Meditation<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Dance performance \u201cAngkor Wat Project\u201d, by Shen Wei<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Performed within the sacred halls of the Mus\u00e9e Guimet and in tandem with its concurrent exhibition of Royal Khmer Bronzes, Shen Wei\u2019s Angkor Wat Project formed\u00a0a luminous dialogue across millennia<\/strong>\u2014between\u00a0ancient relics and contemporary expression<\/strong>,\u00a0material culture and spiritual memory<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>Drawing from Shen\u2019s contemplative pilgrimage to the ancient ruins of Angkor, the piece reimagines the bodily gestures of everyday Cambodians, the ambient sounds of tropical forests, and the mystic stillness of stone deities into a tapestry of movement, imagery, and sound. As reported by China Daily and Nouvelles d\u2019Europe, the work is at once documentary and dreamscape, both a preservation and reinvention of cultural memory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Structured in four parts\u2014<\/span>\u201cThe Face,\u201d \u201cThe Three,\u201d \u201cThe Nature,\u201d and \u201cThe Cultural<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>\u2014the performance moves between sculptural stillness and fluid motion, between silence and resonance. Dancers morph into incarnations of ancient gods or spirits of the jungle, evoking deep reflection on time, memory, the body, and the self.
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\u201cMan fashions the world, and the world, in turn, shapes the self; Return to nature, and nature is inscribed within the soul; Gaze into the past, and its shadows stand before us like a mirror.\u201d\u00a0In this multisensory, cross-media work, the body becomes a language, and the stage becomes a site of invocation and introspection. The Angkor Wat Project is not simply a homage to ancient civilizations\u2014<\/span><\/span>it is a philosophical proposition: a meditation on how humanity might rebuild meaning through perception, answer to the age through art, and transcend borders through the body.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Gao Yuan \u00d7 Evrard Didier:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Bridge Between Civilizations<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the performance, Dr. Gao Yuan and Mr. Evrard Didier engaged in a wide-ranging dialogue about the cultural and artistic significance of Shen Wei\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

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About Evrard Didier:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    Former Chairman of the \u00c9cole Nationale Sup\u00e9rieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2004\u20132011)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    President of\u00a0Le Signe<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 France\u2019s National Center for Graphic Design (2017\u2013present)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Former Executive at Banque Paribas in Taipei, Singapore, and Hong Kong, with deep involvement in Sino-French cultural exchange<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Recipient of the Chevalier de la L\u00e9gion d\u2019Honneur and the\u00a0Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n

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    Selected Highlights from the Dialogue:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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    On Shen Wei\u2019s Role as a Cultural Bridge:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cShen Wei is not merely a Chinese artist or a Western choreographer. He is a builder of bridges between civilizations.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Mr. Didier emphasized that Shen\u2019s work transcends national identity, stylistic convention, and artistic labels. Rooted in Eastern philosophy yet infused with Western modernist spirit, his artistic language resonates universally. His body is itself a medium of cultural communication, breaking linguistic barriers and generating emotional resonance among viewers across continents.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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    On the Philosophy of the Stage:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u201cHis choreography is not narrative but contemplative\u2014a dialogue between inner spirit and outer cosmos.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Didier noted that Shen breaks free from the conventional dramaturgy of plot-driven choreography. Instead, he treats the body as a vessel of awareness, a mirror of emotion, and an echo of the Dao. Movement in his work does not represent meaning; it becomes meaning. This echoes Eastern meditative practices like\u00a0zhiguan<\/em>\u00a0(\u6b62\u89c2) or the Daoist ethos of\u00a0wuwei<\/em>\u00a0(\u65e0\u4e3a)\u2014rarely has Eastern thought been internalized so successfully into a stage vocabulary.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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    On East\u2013West Civilizational Tensions and Convergences:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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    \u201cFrance treasures memory; China venerates nature. Shen Wei exists within this tension\u2014and transforms it into art.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0French aesthetics often privilege the rational order of classical heritage, while Chinese thought leans toward a reverence for nature and inner harmony. Shen Wei does not dazzle with Western technique or dissolve into Eastern mysticism; instead, he charts a third way\u2014where the body becomes ink, time becomes paper, and the result is a soul-map for the contemporary world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

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    A full video of their conversation is available below.<\/span><\/p>\n

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